Australian betting company Tabcorp has been hit with a $1.8 million penalty after the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found telemarketing and spam...
During a Senate inquiry on August 4, 2026, betting companies Sportsbet and Tabcorp responded to allegations accusing them of supplying drugs, alcohol, and escorts to VIP and vulnerable players to push them to bet more.
The claims come after former NRL player Luke Bateman and anti-gambling advocate Tim Costello spoke out against the gambling companies, with Bateman revealing that he attended an event where senior officials from the gambling firms used drugs with clients.
Luke Bateman shared:
“There was another time I remember when I went to an exclusive event through a betting company that was hosted in … a rental on the canals of the Gold Coast, and the entire sort of C-suite of the company was there. They were sort of all in the back room doing drugs together, and I was out in this room doing drugs with all of them. This is like the chief executive, the founders, the VIP managers.”
When asked which gambling companies conducted such activities, Costello told senators that he believed they were Tabcorp, Sportsbet, and Star Casino.
Responding to the accusations, Director of Corporate Affairs at Sportsbet, Jules Norton Selzer, said:
“No information has been provided to us beyond what was referenced yesterday, and we will gladly investigate it. Our objective is for adult customers to enjoy our product safely and responsibly, and that is why we continue to support measures to reduce underage exposure and strengthen consumer protections across the range of federal and state regulatory models that we operate within.”
Tabcorp’s head of government affairs, Julian Whealing, added:
“Tabcorp has zero tolerance for this behavior; we are Australia’s most regulated wagering company, and we take our responsibilities to compliance seriously. Any evidence of this illegal activity should be referred to the relevant authorities.”
Government officials have since called the allegations disturbing, with Parliament set to debate the proposed reforms when it resumes on July 10, 2026.
